Friday, 12 October 2012

Read in 2012 - 31: The Ship-Dwellers

The full title of this non-fiction book by Albert Bigelow Paine is "The Ship-Dwellers - A Story of a Happy Cruise" and was first published in 1910.

You guessed it - it was one of the many free ebooks I downloaded from the Kindle store after I first got my Kindle for my birthday earlier this year.I didn't know anything about the author, and wikipedia does not offer much information apart from the basics such as that he lived from 1861 to 1937, was a member of the Pulitzer Prize committee, became a full time writer after an initial career as a photographer and had a wife, Dora, and three daughters. He was a great admirer and friend of Mark Twain, and dedicated this book to him; in fact, one reason for him to undertake this ship cruise and write about it was that he wanted to walk in Twain's footsteps, who had been on such a cruise several decades before.We may not learn a lot about Albert Paine from wikipedia, but the book gives insight into his way of thinking, how he looks at the world and the people around him, how he connects current events with history. His humour is undoubtedly there; his writing does sometimes feel more modern than what you would expect to find in a book from 1910, and he conjures up some beautiful pictures for the mental eye of the places he's seen and of the ship he lives on for months and its occupants.I would have greatly enjoyed the whole book, had it not been for some very racist remarks which, in those days, were probably perfectly normal with nobody thinking any less of the author for it. In fact, he may have been considered a tolerant and open-minded man by many of his contemporaries, but in our day and age, he'd have caused a scandal by writing what he did (mainly about the Turkish people he came in contact with during his voyage).Maybe I am confusing things here, but I seem to remember that Nan at Letters From A Hill Farm wrote in one of her many excellent book reviews that she had experienced something similar; reading a book that would have been great if not for the disturbing thoughts, carelessly and shamelessly published - because they were completely normal at the time - based on national and racial prejudice.Don't get me wrong; I am not someone who strives for political correctness all the time, and in fact find it quite refreshing when people really speak their mind. But such deeply ingrained intolerance does bother me.Nonetheless, there are some really beautiful and poetic descriptions and thoughts in this book. It does not aim to be a travel guide but allows an interesting look at what travelling for tourists was like in those days (for the well-off, of course) and what the countries and sights dotted around the Mediterranean were like back then.

8 comments:

I find it very hard to sort out in my mind the matter of re-adjusting things because they are no longer acceptable. I have always had a dislike of racial or religious or any other prejudice against people for what they were born or brought up (and have been on the 'wrong' side of it). However if we re-write or erase such things as though they never happened then we will find it harder to understand why and how much we have changed and still have to change. After all there is so much prejudice and intolerance today from the Christian Right to the Muslin Jihadists. Do we erase that and pretend it's not there? Will we learn more and perhaps alter if we see the destruction that such intolerance brings? After all in the US Macarthyism has been written out of almost everything to the extent than few Americans I know have even heard of it. Yet such intolerance is again making itself felt. Do we never learn?

Graham, I absolutely agree with you in that things should not be re-written for the sake of making them more acceptable to us now. The book gave me valuable insight into the kind of (arrogant) thinking people back then had no qualms in making public but mostly do not admit to today, unless they are not afraid of causing an uproar.And no "side" is free of that, as you so rightly point out. I'm afraid that, as a whole, we (as in humankind) have not learned all that much over the past millenia.

Thanks for stopping by my blog, it's always good to find a blog about books, i read anything and everything.Would hate for books to be "edited" for political correctness reasons. Accept them or don't read them.I've listened to political correctness my whole life and I just ignore it. Say what you think and let the chips fall where they may.

Thank YOU for stopping by my blog! Yes, I find it so interesting to read what others like or dislike about a book, either one I have read myself or one that I get interested in after reading their review.

Mark Twain's 'Innocents Abroad' is similarly noticeable for its racist remarks which - as you say - were not considered anything abnormal in those days. In a way, when I read it, I felt quite good about how far we have developed in the years since Twain went abroad.

This book was inspired by Mark Twain's "Innocents Abroad"; the author often refers to it. I am not quite sure about how far we really have developed since; many times I'm afraid it is just that people do not admit such thoughts publicly anymore, but they are still pretty much there.

I do consider all of the concepts you have presented in your post.They are very convincing and can definitely work.Nonetheless, the posts are too brief for novices. May just you please lengthen them a bit from subsequent time? Thanks for the post.My webpage ... http://Megandona.xanga.com/

Concepts? I have not presented any concepts in this post - it is a BOOK REVIEW and nothing else, and were it any longer, I doubt anyone would read it. So, please, don't leave any more spam comments on my blog. Thank you.